As you can imagine some are more committed than others. Some have made real investments of their time, effort and money. All three of those elements are critical.

Then there are the dreamers.

They say,

"I love to speak about 'x' and I put together a PowerPoint show. What's next?"

"I've been calling speakers' bureaus and they won't want to talk to me until I'm successful. If I was successful, I wouldn't need them. What's your secret?"

"I want to be a professional speaker and you've got to help me because I bought your book."

"I was let go by my company and I always loved to speak. My friend suggested that I become a professional speaker."

"I'm passionate about my message. I want to change the world. You've got to help me."

Dreaming is a good place to start. And you've got to move past that stage to planning, investing and doing.

All three actions need to be there to succeed.

When I only had the dream to become a professional speaker, I asked a friend who was a speaker what to do. His advice was:

Don't quit your day job yet

Join Toastmasters to get good at the craft

Volunteer to speak as often as you can to any group - for the practice

Focus on a specific area of expertise

Become an aggressive marketer of your service

It took at least a few years to get from birth of the dream to full-time professional speaker. I did all the things my friend told me and more.

I appreciate my friend's help and others that I learned from along the way. Naturally I'm willing to assist others but I don't wish to waste my time with every dreamer that crosses my path.

One piece of advice from my mentor, Peter Urs Bender, was "Be nice to people, but be rude with your time."

So I wrote my advice to future professional speakers and published it on my website. Those who are serious will read it and benefit from the open and practical insights. Those who are dreamers won't read it - because they want a pill.

As you can see if you visit the link, there's lots of good information there. I invested my time and effort to write this information and publish it as a free resource. It doesn't answer every question you might have but it does cover much more than the basics. Also there are links to other useful resources and books.

It's curious that after sharing this link I have received angry messages from people who seem to believe that I owe them more - for free. As you can probably guess, those people will not make it in the professional speaking business.

Have you noticed that when people assume they know what you
meant – often they misunderstood?

Can you recall a recent conversation where you assumed you
understood the other person and you messed up because you assumed wrong?

One piece of the puzzle seldom shows you the whole picture.

Assumption seems to be the biggest cause of failed
communication.

That’s curious because it happens often yet we keep
repeating our mistakes.

The first step to overcome assumption is to listen without
judging or jumping to conclusions. The next step is to ask for clarification
and listen carefully. The next step might be to check your understanding one
more time.

When you what to clarify your understanding first ask an
open question and listen. Then ask a closed question or state your
understanding and listen.

Why might people assume?

They believe they can read your mind.

They want to demonstrate eagerness by getting started.

They want to impress you.

They didn’t listen and don’t want you to know.

They believe that they are saving time by not asking you to explain.

They are insecure about your relationship.

They don’t want to spend any more time in your presence.

They are intimidated by you.

They are overeager to please you.

They don’t know how to ask good questions.

They believe that they should know and are afraid to ask
questions.

They believe that motion is action.

They see themselves as a victim.

They think that you might be testing their knowledge.

Of course those are only my assumptions.

The next time you have a conversation or listen to a speaker ask yourself, "What assumptions have you made before or while listening to that person?"

Have you heard Murphy's Law that says "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong"?

It seems to apply to presentations as well. In fact if you deliver presentations the question is not "Will something go wrong?" The question is "When will it go wrong?" The more important question is "Will you be prepared to deal with the disruptions?"